Invoker
by Sydwashere
Summary: When the Kyubi attacked, Naruto was 3 years old. Orphaned in the destruction, it was 3 more years before he was kidnapped by Orochimaru for a special experiment. Imbued with the three reagents of destruction - the heart of a blizzard, the essence of a storm, and the soul of a phoenix, Naruto's Invoked powers will be seen across the nations. Pairing undecided. DotA components.
1. Chapter 1

Heyo! This story here is only my second upload ever, and its taken around a year or so to work up the courage to do it. As this implies, I am by no means an experienced or talented writer (for those who are, I am sooooo jealous -.-). Why am I writing this? Well, for one thing, I really like the AU ideas that I will use in this, but it is mainly because I probably spend more time in 24 hours reading fan fiction then I do sleeping. I admire any person that has the courage and drive to put their words out there, regardless of the quality of their work. You guys are all my role-models, and this is my attempt at starting down the path to being one of you.

Most of the AU-ness in this story is cross-over from DotA, and most specifically, the Invoker. If you don't know DotA or the Invoker, then feel free to ask questions. I have a full explanation already typed out, but decided to not put it right up front so the surprises won't be spoiled. When the cross-over elements do appear though, I will try to explain them as I go.

Truthfully, I have not decided who Naruto's biological parents will be. Perhaps I might go cannon, perhaps not, but be sure to tell me what you think. For the moment, I am not renaming Naruto simply because the name Naruto is familiar and comfortable, but it probably won't change. Pairing is also undecided. Rating may change.

Reviews, opinions, thoughts, etc. greatly appreciated, and requested.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, DotA, and all associated thingies. Some plot twists and storyline inspired by Wolka's 'Naruto of the Hyoton', and I will never understand why that story isn't as well known as it should be.

* * *

For the orphan Naruto, cold was by no means an unknown, frightening feeling. A person simply gets used to these kinds of things over time, and he had had half of his life to do so at the orphanage.

Not that he was maltreated at the orphanage - the Caretaker was actually very mothering - the orphanage simply didn't have enough funds to provide fully for all the tiny tykes requiring homes after the Kyubi attacked.

But that is neither here nor there. From the moment he regained consciousness, Naruto. Was. Cold. Really, really, really cold. Cold enough that it was agony. Cold enough that the tears trying desperately to escape were frozen upon leaving his eyes, and he had to blink the ice away to be able to see. So cold in fact, that he even forgot to be afraid of his erie surroundings, consisting of the rectangular marble slate he was strapped upon (which was somehow actually warmer than him), a metal table covered in odd metal implements, one light hanging overhead, and worst of all, one extremely creepy, pale-skinned black-haired man staring at him with frightening intensity. For all of about three seconds were Naruto's wide, desperate eyes able to observe this, because suddenly the cold abated and his drained body forced him back into unconsciousness to do what it could to heal him.

Despite the all-too-obvious suffering of the child, the mouth of pale-skinned man watching on suddenly twisted into a rictus of wicked glee, tinged only slightly with regret and envy. This little experiment of his was working far more perfectly than he had ever anticipated. Far more perfectly than any of his experiments ever had. Too bad for him that the modification he was enacting would never again be able to be performed; it required 3 reagents, reagents that no longer existed in this world.

_'Ah, pity...' _he thought. _'Watching the agony of my little captives is always_ so _entertaining. I will need to wait for at least another day to begin the next sealing.' _Turning his back to his experiment, he stopped for a moment and crooned, "Goodnight Naruto-kun. Sleep well, regain your strength, and you might just survive tomorrow." Before striding away. As he stepped into the darkness, he finished, "I _so dearly _hope you do."

* * *

Unfortunately for Naruto, and to the great delight of the pale-skinned man who was called Orochimaru, Naruto was in fact recovered enough to continue the next day.

In a fashion all to similar to his previous awakening, Naruto regained consciousness in pain. This time however, it wasn't because he was cold. It was because from the tips of his toes, to the end of every hair on his red head, spasming, jarring shocks of power ripped through him. The effect of this was not only pain, it also prevented Naruto from forming a single coherent thought or viewing what was around him. Overloaded with pain and electricity, Naruto lost consciousness far before it ended.

While this didn't surprise the haggard looking Orichimaru, it certainly disappointed him. _'It looks like this one may have been almost too much. I will have to wait a little longer this time, for while the next one won't be as difficult, he will need time to recover from this. Even I, the rightful Yondaime Hokage, feel exhausted from this sealing.' _

This time, there were no words of parting or pause before Orochimaru almost stumbled his way out of the light.

* * *

Burning. This time, Naruto felt as though he was a leaf in a forest fire that somehow failed to die a quick death by incineration, and was instead cursed to light aflame, burn to a crisp, and be reborn to burn again over and over. Writhing in desperation, he screamed for what seemed like days, though it was only an hour.

When the hated flame finally ran its course, he was on the verge of fainting once again when his head was suddenly grabbed and the pale-skinned man shouted into his ear. "Do not close your eyes child! Not now, not when we are so close to the finish! If we do not do this now, we may never get the chance. The Sandaime is closing in on me, he will be here soon. I MUST DO THIS NOW WHILE I STILL CAN!" Roared Orochimaru.

Seeing the boy's eyes drifting downwords despite his orders, Orochimaru took the choice away from him with a quick, rarely used jutsu. "**Kyōsei-tekina ishiki no jutsu!"** (Forced Consciousness Art)

Immediately, Naruto's eyes snapped fully open, and for the first time in days became fully aware of his situation. Frantically flicking his eyes in every direction he could, he noticed that the surroundings were almost identical to what he hazily remembered from the first time he had looked around during the terrible cold. He was still strapped to the marble slab, the metal table was still covered in obscure tools, though now it was more cluttered and many of the implements were bloodied. He figured they must be what had caused the myriad of scars and punctures all over his body. That light hanging above him was still the only illumination wherever they were, but it seemed dimmer than he remembered. Added to his surroundings was an additional table, this one made of wood and quite ornate, which was covered in ink stains, parchments, and writing implements in a messy spread.

Finally, Naruto turned his attention back to the pale-skinned man. Said man had his back to Naruto and was hunched over, roughly tearing through the piles of papers on the desk, looking for a very special one in particular. Naruto did not have to wait for long before the man's hands suddenly stopped and cradled one of the papers. Because it was hidden behind the man, Naruto could not see what this piece special, but that was quickly solved as the man straightened, and with a slow deliberate movement turned around. Naruto choked in horror. The man's eyes seemed to be glowing with a sickening light in their golden depths, and a snakelike tongue was currently licking his smirking lips. All together, it created a face comparable with a monster's.

It was nearly impossible to look away from the horrendous sight, but mustering all his willpower Naruto managed to move his eyes to rest upon the parchment in the man's hands. It was a beautiful thing, about the size of Naruto's stomach and covered in kanji of all shapes and sizes in swirling patterns that, when looked at as a whole, seemed to take the shape of a circle with a triangle inside, with yet another circle inside the triangle. Crossing over the outer circle, but stopping at the triangle were three more circles, with one centered to each side of the triangle. The three circles were roughly the same size as the triangle. Naruto's investigation of the pattern was broken though, when the hissing voice of the pale man brought his attention unwillingly back to him.

_"Naruto-kun... You have done very well... But now, now we will see if you are meant to mean something in this world. Be warned, this will hurt." _As he said this, the pale man suddenly seemed to disappear, and then reappear directly beside Naruto, slamming the paper onto his exposed stomach while bellowing out a command, but his words were lost as Naruto began howling and lost himself in mindless pain.

* * *

A/N:

So, 1200+ words down. Thats a lot for me xD  
Next chapter there will be a time skip, and I haven't decided whether or not events directly after where this chapter left off will be explained in a flashback, or if it will be explained in the beginning of the next chapter before the time skip. Next chapter should also hopefully see the introduction of what the seal Orochimaru applied does.

Again, I would desperately like to hear whatever it is you have to say about my work. Unless, of course, its one of those useless, pointless, rants some people feel obliged to contribute. That doesn't mean I'm against rants, it just needs to be a rant with a reason.

If you don't feel like the effort of figuring out what to comment on, I would appreciate your thoughts on:  
- Was the PoVs and switching okay?  
- Did I describe scenes/senses/interactions to your liking?  
- Is it okay that Naruto isn't really described yet?  
- Advice for improving story description?

Anyways, thanks for reading even if you didn't review, and have a good day/night ^_^

btw, my account name is pronounced side-wash-er (washing from the sides :3) even though it technically should be said syd-was-here.


	2. Chapter 2

Heyo guys, sorry this chapter took so long for me to update. Its over two thousand words this time :D

For others a couple days might not seem like much of a wait, but when its just a thousand words on the first one, its really not that long. I do have a legit excuse if you'll take it though. Alongside school and fan fiction (mostly reading xD) I also regularly attend my cross country team. The day I published my first chapter also happened to be the day before we traveled for a cross country race against other schools, and I actually couldn't bring any computer type stuff with me. I DID bring paper and pencil though, and did something quite novel for me: I pre-planned scenes. So, hopefully I can make up for the delay.

Suggestions for pairings, heritage, or any other thing you might want to suggest are still requested and always will be.

Also, on the pairing subject, I will NEVER accept Sakura. Sorry to those who like her, but the majority of fan fiction has hammered me into a Sakura hater. There will also most likely be Sakura bashing. No Yaoi too. Like most fan fiction authors, I have absolutely no problem with those that are into Yaoi, but I am not among those that enjoy it, and I see no point in writing it if its not my style.

Disclaimer: If you want to read an obvious and pointless sentence, go back to the first chapter. Its not at all different. I still don't own DotA or Naruto.

* * *

Sprinting full speed down a dank stone hallway somewhat reminiscent of a dungeon, was the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha and 5 of his most trusted ANBU. Despite their elite status, the 6 men seemed to be breaking just about every rule a ninja must follow when infiltrating an enemy base. Their steps were loud and echoing, they moved their sandal clad feet at top speed holding nothing in reserve, they hardly checked for traps... and worst of all, they did all this down a path their opponent knew without a doubt they would be taking.

What, you may ask, could possibly make a Hokage risk such foolish decisions?

Only the knowledge of what lay at the end of the near-featureless flame light tunnel of course. Knowledge the aging Hokage desperately wanted to dismiss as a simple day-dream and forget, yet he could not. For it was foolishness of the deadliest order to ignore what could easily be the fatal blow to Konoha.

* * *

Sarutobi grimaced and resisted the urge to cover his ears, as yet another wave of screaming and chakra originating from down the corridor washed over him. _'This isn't good. What in the world can... _he_... be sealing to create such violent forces! Its feel is different to the Kyubi, but still... I almost wonder if perhaps we should wait so as not to risk releasing whatever this thing is.' _Suddenly, his eyes fully widened as a spike pit unexpectedly opened beneath him, the sound of its activation obscured in the screams. '!' A wordless explanation of surprise was all that Hiruzen managed as he began his descent to death, too thunderstruck that such a simple trick would be the end of him to say anything else.

He didn't need to. The silver haired ANBU Inu managed to snag him before he had fallen a meter, and after a quick heartfelt thank you to Inu, the charge continued.

Keeping a much more diligent watch for traps, Hiruzen immersed himself once again in his troubled mind._ 'Orochimaru... How did you become so monstrous? I remember when I chose Minato as Hokage instead of you, there was a moment when your signals seemed to_ change._ Perhaps at that moment I glimpsed this side of your heart and it saddened me greatly... But never did I imagine you would go to such extremes as experimenting on fellow Konoha shinobi!' _Hiruzen thought back to when he had discovered Orochimaru's treachery.

* * *

_Flashback:_

_On this bright, sunny, cheerful day, the duties of the village leader had been much the same as any other day. What a shame. It was paperwork. But for the sake of his village, the Sandaime Hokage endured it. And now, late evening, he was only a mere half hour away from making his escape. _

_With his pipe in his mouth, a small smile on his face, and an old pen in his hand, Hiruzen gave a small sigh and began the last stack of papers. One at a time. Gratefully he noted that these were, in fact, the easiest papers which he normally did first. This would explain why some of those other papers felt so much harder than normal, but it meant that his predicted half an hour could be cut down to just ten minutes. _

'Ahhhhh, wonderful, the blasted papers are all gone.' _He smiled as a thought occurred to him,_ 'I can finally make that visit to little Mito-chan.' _With that thought, the warmth of the setting sun on his face and gentle noise of the village coming in through the window, he both looked and felt truly at peace._

_Such simple pleasures however, were quite simply ruined. The door suddenly burst open, the peace left, and a harbinger of doom entered. "Hokage-sama!" a bloody ANBU missing his mask screamed deliriously, foaming at the mouth. He was, for lack of a better term, screwed up. Hastily wrapped punctures were obvious on his legs, grime covered his arms, and blood and gashes were almost everywhere. He was even missing the last two fingers of his left hand. "Its terrible! Terrible... The bodies! The things in the shadows! Th-they got Kame and Moru!" _

_The ANBU suddenly screamed for a moment, jolting the Hokage from his daze at the abrupt emotional shift in the atmosphere. "Please Hokage... P-please! Make it stop..." The man sobbed out. With no other obvious course of action, Hiruzen began to get up, planning to knock the man out, but Inu beat him there._

_As the exhausted man crumpled to the floor, Inu stepped over him and into the Hokage's office. "Sir." Was all he said to the Hokage's questioning look._

_The Hokage just sighed and said, "...Kakashi... You have some explaining to do."_

_End Flashback:_

* * *

With no further delay, Kakashi had told him what had happened. How on their patrol, they had discovered some sort of underground hidden complex, and how inside a savage blood soaked lab... All but two of the patrol had been killed.

After that, the Hokage, of course, had inquired as to what the highly skilled ANBU thought about it all. I say inquired, but that really is far too gentle of a word. The Hokage _demanded_ Inu's opinion, and very reluctantly, Kakashi had given it.

_"I seriously doubt you will believe me, despite how much you trust me. I even doubt myself on this, but all the evidence supports it. I-I believe... it was_ Orochimaru."

Kakashi had been almost right. The Hokage was loath to believe such a tragedy. But in the end, there was nothing to do but to investigate and hopefully prove Kakashi wrong. It had been simple really, all Hiruzen had needed to do was use his crystal ball and check. He had made the handsigns with shaking fingers.

And there, crystal clear in his crystal ball, had been Orochimaru with his back to them. In a dark room illuminated with a single bulb. Bending over a screaming boy. Sealing something. The sannin had turned around to face the view of the ball and clicked his tongue in annoyance. _"This won't do... Wont do at all. Kukukuku," _the sannin laughed._ "See you soon, _Sensei. _Kukuku..."_

With that, Orochimaru formed a few signs, and the evidence disappeared, but was still fresh in their minds.

Looking up into Kakashi's eye, all the Hokage had needed to say was, "Lets go. Now."

* * *

Sarutobi surfaced from these thoughts not a moment too soon, just in time to dodge a trio of exploding tags that even Inu couldn't have salvaged him from. Looking to his ANBU guards, and through them to the people of Konoha, Hiruzen steeled his features and his determination. 'Orochimaru, I have turned a blind eye too long. This time, you have crossed a line. Unnecessary cruelty and disrespect for life was already far enough when directed at the enemy.' The six men continued down the corridor at breakneck speeds. 'But... now you have harmed the Village Hidden in the Leaves. You _will_ suffer the consequences!' A partially opened door became visible not far ahead. Hiruzen's eyes gleamed dully. "This day... I will end you, Orochimaru." Sarutobi's fist snapped the door in two.

* * *

Stepping over the ruins of the door, Hiruzen and the ANBU were confronted with what was obviously the room he had seen in the crystal ball. Only now, the young red-haired child was no longer screaming, and a seal that somehow looked freshly applied adorned his stomach. Orochimaru was also no longer bending over the child, he was instead standing with a smirk on his lips and arms crossed, in a position that screamed, 'I've been waiting for you.'

Indeed, the first words out of the slightly amused looking sannin's mouth were, _"Hello, sensei. I've been waiting for you." _In an extremely oily voice.

Sarutobi and the ANBU all sweat-dropped, while Orochimaru took a deep breath, ostensibly to regain his flow

_"Seriously though, sensei, I know you are a busy man, and I know that we haven't chatted for a while, but really."_ Orochimaru gestured to the two pieces of the door. _"Did you have to break it? You taught us better than that. It _was _open you know." _Sarutobi actually looked slightly guilty for a moment, and then angry, but decided to let it go in favor of apprehending Orochimaru for his treachery.

"Orochimaru! You know why I am here, so stop fooling around." Sarutobi's eyes drifted around the room for a moment before landing on the boy, and he continued speaking.

"You have betrayed the Leaf. Tortured its citizens and shinobi. I am not letting this go unpunished." Hiruzen glared at Orochimaru.

No longer looking amused, but fully serious instead the sannin replied, _"Of course you won't. But first, let me explain what I have done." _Orochimaru's eyes narrowed slightly as he said, _"Its really quite brilliant."_

_"Sealed into this boy behind me, are the three ancient reagents of nature. The Heart of a Blizzard, the Essence of a Storm, and the Soul of a Phoenix. Truthfully, not even I know what impact this will truly have on him, but then again, thats why it's an experiment." _The sannin's expression became slightly regretful then._ "Unfortunately for my precious experiment, I might not be around to see it. And I would much rather lose the experiment than my life." _

He looked meaningfully at Sarutobi, who sighed deeply and said, "On with it Orochimaru. What are you getting at."

_"How would you like to make a trade..." _Hiruzen's eyes widened as Orochimaru gracefully twisted around and plunged a kunai into the child's chest. _"Chase me and the child will die before you catch me. Allow me to escape... And you might just save one of your precious little leaves... With a valuable ability thrown in too. Kukuku..." _

And with that, he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

For a moment, Hiruzen was indecisive. Catch the incredibly dangerous criminal, or save the young child who could one day be a powerful defender of the village. It was only a moment though. He, of course, dashed to the young child's aid.

* * *

Despite his best efforts, Sarutobi's limited skill in healing was proving to not be enough. Whatever poison Orochimaru had coated the kunai in was spreading rapidly throughout the boy's body, and the child's heart was speeding up.

After just another minute of effort, Sarutobi gave up. With a resigned expression and nearly heartbroken, he stood to watch the child breath his last in the near darkness of Orochimaru's lab. _'Dear Kami...' _He began. _'Please take this young child to a better place in your arms-'_

Hiruzen was interrupted as, suddenly, on the brink of his very last breath, three ice cold orbs burst from the red-haired boy's chest. Right in front of the Hokage's dumbfounded face, they floated up around foot above the child's body and began a gentle orbit, exuding a cold, yet somehow strengthening glow. If it was possible for Hiruzen's face to get even more stunned, it did when under the orb's cold light the small child began rapidly recovering.

The child drew in a deep breath as his grimace of pain eased.

Hiruzen smiled.

* * *

A/N:

End chapter three.  
This thing was such a pain in the ass to write - I so desperately want to get out of the story set-up and into using the reagents :\  
Because of said pain-in-the-ass-to-write-ness of this chapter, and the fact I wanted to publish it before I went to school in the morning, I kinda rushed a few parts of this. Especially the ending, which I wrote half asleep.

You may notice that there is an inconsistency in Orochimaru's speech between this chapter and the last one. In the last one, Orochimaru was talking and thinking, and I put his thoughts in Italics. This time, I put his regular speech in Italics because I felt it accentuated his slithery voice.

Not only that, but I'm pretty sure I have been making switches in the style of the thoughts and flashbacks. I'm pretty sure some of the thoughts in this chapter were in Italics, and some weren't.

Anyways, I need to get out of my house and to school.

Thanks for reading, and have a nice day/night.


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